Mobile hair dryer



S. W. GOODMAN MOBILE HAIR DRYER 1NvENToR SHELBY Vl. GOODMAN BY W y lmfom/EY Filed NOV. 23, 1966 May 21, 1968 R ff E m nl United StatesPatent O 3,383,778 MBILE HAIR DRYER Shelby W. Goodman, Rte. 3, Box 141,Raleigh, N.C. 27609 Filed Nov. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 596,508 3 Claims. (Cl.34-90) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE tIn abstract, a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention is a standard hair drying -bonnet with flexibleair hose connected to either a permanently mounted hot air port in avehicle or to a removable adapter unit held in place over the windowdefroster unit of the vehicle by means of magnets, adhesive or similarsecuring means. The invention also contemplates the combined use of thedefro-ster attachment and the hot air port to guarantee an adequatevolume of warm air for hair drying purposes.

This invention relates to hair drying devices and more particularly tohair drying devices adapted to operate in conjunction with alreadyavailable sources of warm air in vehicles.

In the past, various types of hair dryers have been developed for -usein conjunction with already avail-able sources of heat such as theexhaust side of vacuum cleaners, the exhaust ports of clothes dryer, thefan secti-ons of space heaters and the like. As yet, however, no one hasdiscovered the readily avail-able source of #warm air available throughheating and defrosting system of automobiles nor have they developedmethods of readily tapping this source.

Applicant after much thought, study and research into the problems ofhair drying has discovered, and in conjunction with that discoverydeveloped, a system whereby readily adaptable ports can be provided forplugging a standard type hair dryer hose into special openings locatedeither on the walls or instrument panel `ot' a vehicle. A modiiicationof this adaptation has also been developed which incorporates the use ofa standard bonnet type hair dryer and hose in conjunction with anadapter which may be placed over sources of warm air, such as the windowdefrosters of a vehicle. I'f neither of these two sources appear to beadequate due to the type of system with which they are being used, bothmay be connected to the standard hair dryer hose by means of a two-hoseinput, single hose output adapter thereby greatly increasing the volumeof air available.

It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide meansfor kadapting a standard, readily available, combination bonnet typehair dryer and hose to the heating system of an automobile by providinga permanently mounted port adapted to receive the free end of said hose.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heater exhaustport adapted to releasably receive the hose from -a standard bonnet typehair dryer wherein the port includes an automatic means tor shutting offthe o'w of air therefrom when the hose from the bonnet is disconnectedfrom the port.

Another object ofthe present invention is to provide an air ilowdeecting device adapted to be placed over openings in the heater anddefroster system of a vehicle whereby a standard bonnet type hair dryerand hose may be connected thereto to use the heated gases from thevehicles system to dry the hair of the wearer of the bonnet.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a means forharnessing two or more readily available sources of Warm air to oper-atea bonnet type hair dryer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ice detlectorfor openings in the heater or defroster system of a vehicle lincludingreadily releasable means tor holding the detlector in place during itsuse.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention |will becomeapparent and obvious from a study of the yfollowing description and theaccompanying drawings Iwhich are merely illustrative of the presentin-vention.

In the drawings:

|FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a vehicle disclosing the variousfeatures of the present invention in operative relation to the userthereof;

FIG. 2 is a sectional perspective lof the dashboard of a vehicledisclosing the location of the various elements of the preferredembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a section-al view taken through lines 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a Y-joint adapter lfor use 'with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

With further reference to the drawings, a vehicle, indicated generallyat 10, is provided having a heater system schematically shown as 1\1. Anintermediate hose 12 is operatively connected at one end to such systemwith its other end lixedly secured to port plate 11'3. To prevent the`warmed air from the heater 111 lfrom coming out of opening 14 of hose'12, a closure such as sliding door 15 is provided. If desired, door 15may be either spring biased or gravity biased toward the closed positionso that whenever the port is not being used for hair drying purposes aswill be hereinafter described, it will move to the closed position whichbeautities the opening as 'well las prevents the exit of undesired lairduring normal heater operation.

Even though the location of the port or opening |14 is disclosed asbeing mounted in the dash or instrument panel of the vehicle, it ofcourse could be located in any other convenient location such as theoor, the fwall or even the roof of the vehicle; and additionally couldbe either in the Ifront seat, back seat or any other desired area.

An adapter or deflector unit 116 is provided having magnets 17 orsimilar holding means attached to the periphery 18 of main opening ='19.:Exhaust opening 20 is also provided in the unit to which hose 21 isattached. This unit is so constructed as to cover and thereby capturethe -warm air being emitted from openings in the vehicles heating ordefrosting system. Although it is primarily adapted for use over -the`window defrosting openings, it coul-d of course readily be used tochannel air being emitted from the normal openings in the heater system.

The adapter unit may be constructed of either a relatively rigidmaterial, soft pliable material -to -assist in conforming to variousmakes and models of vehicles or a combination of pliable material andrelatively rigid material.

=In actual use and operation of the present invention, the user 22thereof places a standard bonnet 4type -hair dryer 23 on his or herhead. A hose .24 is connected to the bonnet in the ordinary fashion. Ifthe vehicle is equipped with a permanently mounted port, as has beenhereinabove described, the end of hose 24 may be plugged thereinto afterthe sliding door or closure 1'5' has adapter hose 21. The adapter unit16 is Ithen placed over any of the standard openings in the heating ordefrosting system of the vehicle; preferably one of the elong-atedwindow ydefrosting openings which are commonly provided. If thedefroster system is used, it may be activated by manipulation of thestandard defroster control (not shown) which will cause warm .air torHow through delfroster opening 126, into adapter unit j16, out through-adapter hose 21, through bonnet hose 24 into bonnet 23 therebyaccelerating the drying of the user's h-air.

lDue to the low output volume of air from the defroster and heatingsystems of particular types of vehicles, or Idue to the desire of theuser to acquire extremely rapid drying, a combined use of both the portconnection and the ladapter may be made by attaching one end of bonnethose 24 to Y-joint 27 yand connecting the other two branches of suchjoint to intermediate hoses 28 and 29 which are respectively connectedto adapter 16 and port |14. `By manipulating both the heater anddefroster controls (not shown), air being emitted from both of thesesystems may be channeled simultaneously 'from their sources by way ofY-joint 27, and bonnet hose 24 into bonnet 120 which surrounds the hairof the user.

Thus it is obvious that the present invention has the advantage ofallowing great mobility of hair drying devices by providing means forconnecting standard type hair drying bonnets and hoses to sources ofheat which are readily available in most vehicles utilized by thetraveling public. The present invention likewise has the ad* vantage of:being versatile and readily adaptable to varying situations encountereddue to various styles and models of vehicles with 'which its use incontemplated. Additionally, the invention is inexpensive to manufactureand produce as Iwell as being easily connected and disconnected fromvarying sources of warmed air.

The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other Specificways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit andessential characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive and all changes coming Within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. lIn a hair drying device adapted to be used in conjunction with airoutlets in both the built-in heating and the built-in defrosting systemsof a vehicle, the improvement comprising: a deflector; an inlet openingand an outlet opening in said defiector; means for removably attachingsaid inlet opening over the air outlet of said defrosting system; ahollow, generally Y-shaped joint having t-wo inlet legs and one outletleg; a hose communicatively connecting one of said inlet legs to theoutlet opening in said defiector; .a second hose communicativelyconnected at one end to the second inlet leg of said joint; means forremovably attaching the other end of said second hose to the air outletof said heating system; a 'bonnet type cover encasing a portion of thehead 0f the user thereof, said cover having an lair inlet openingprovided therein; and a third hose communicatively connecting the outletleg of Said joint to the inlet opening in said cover ywhereby allavail-able air may be channeled from the heating and defrosting systemsof said vehicle simultaneously into said cover -to insure adequatepressure and volume of air ow to dry the hair of the user.

2. The device of claim I1 wherein the means for removably attaching theinlet opening of the deilector over the air outlet of the defrostingsystem is an adhesive above the periphery of such deilector inletopening.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the means for removably attaching theinlet opening of the deector over the air outlet of the defrostingsystem is a plurality of magnets lfixedly secured about the peripnery ofsuch inlet opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,165,615 7/1939 Cope 165-41 XR2,277,568 3/1942 Tavernese 165-41 XR 2,800,285 7/1957 Muller et al.98-24 XR 2,990,198 6/1961 Imming 285-9 2,996,255 S/l96l Boylan 98-2.4 XR3,151,695 10/1964 Mintz 285-9 3,280,896 10/1966 Goodson et al.

vFREDERICK L. MATTESON, IR., Primary Examiner.

A. D. HERRMANN, Assistant Examiner.

